The Oklahoma Daily

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S I NDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE

VOL. 94, NO. 112 FREE — Additional Copies 25¢

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 © 2009 OU Publications Board

U2 expected to play at OU this fall • U2’s OU tour date posted, removed Monday TYLER BRANSON The Oklahoma Daily Campus is buzzing with the recent announcement that rock band U2 will be performing at the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Oct. 19 as part of their 360° tour.

Students began spreading the word almost immediately. Facebook updates were frequent and campus is atwitter with the new rumor.

The tour, which is sponsored by Blackberry,

uses an elaborate 360° design, giving the audience an unobstructed view. U2’s 360° tour will be the first time a band has toured in stadiums with such a unique and original structure, according to U2’s Web site.

There will be about 10,000 tickets for each show, priced at $30, and more exclusive, higher-priced tickets also will be available, according to a press release.

Spencer Parker, English senior, said though he wasn’t a huge fan, he is shocked U2 even thought to show Norman some attention.

“I mean it’s U2,” he said. “They’re epic.

Global.”

Anticipation for a U2 performance may be a bit premature, though. The U2 Web site removed the Oklahoma date from its online list Monday afternoon.

Kenny Mossman, OU athletic department spokesman, was unable to confirm any word

of a U2 stop in Norman.

“We have been working to bring special events to our venues,” he said in an e-mail, “But we are not in a position to announce any new additions to our schedule at this time.”

The unconfirmed Oklahoma date has not stopped the word from spreading around campus.

With a global Facebook group of almost 800,000 members and over 500 results for interests in U2 specifically among OU students, it is no surprise U2 is popular with the student body.

Bert Snider, criminology senior, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear U2 was AP Photo/CBS, Jeffrey R. Staab coming.

In this photo released by CBS, U2 band members, from left, The Edge, Larry Mullen “It’s nice we’re able to get big bands like that,” he said. “I hope this is an opportu- Jr., Bono and Adam Clayton perform during a taping of the “Late Show with David

U2 Continues on page 2

Letterman” on Monday in New York.

Check out a review of U2’s new CD in Life & Arts, Page 9.

Prosthetic research booms • Prospective center to be partially funded

by Department of Defense

Renowned pollster to speak at President’s Associates Dinner Internationally renowned pollster John Zogby, CEO of Zogby International, will be the keynote speaker at a President’s Associates Dinner on March 30, OU announced Monday.

He also will lead an informal discussion with students before the dinner and hold a booksigning afterward.

Zogby will speak about how the current generation of 18-to-29 year olds, who he calls the “first globals,” will shape the future.

OU students, faculty and staff can reserve seating, with overflow seating available to the public. Call the Office of Special Events for reservations at 325-3784.

RICHIE MILLS The Oklahoma Daily Organizations bringing their ideas and funding on prosthetics to Oklahoma may help the state’s research market become even bigger.

OrthoCare Innovations, one of the country’s leading research organizations in the field of orthotics and prosthetics, merged with already prospering research and development company Martin Bionics last year in Oklahoma City.

The company, which has focused on improving technology used for replacement limbs, has brought other researchers to Oklahoma City in an effort to establish a rehabilitation technology center. The center will be located next to the OrthoCare Innovations headquarters in Oklahoma City.

The U.S. lacked a center that focused on the transition and com-

CAMPUS BRIEFS

-DAILY STAFF REPORTS

LIFE & ARTS Plan on catching up on a book this spring break? The Daily’s Sarah Dorn gives you a list of the best books to check out over spring break.

Page 10.

Photo Provided

Johns Hopkins University engineer Robert Armiger (right) uses real-time gait analysis data to optimize a prosthetic limb for Ken Whitten (left), Duncan resident, a bilateral amputee. Whitten was a patient for research for Johns Hopkins’ DARPA prosthetics in Oklahoma City. mercialization of prosthetic technologies, and the company’s rehabilitation center will put OrthoCare Innovations and Oklahoma at the top in prosthetic research, said Doug McCormack, chief executive of OrthoCare Innovations.

“One of the things we talked about a

year ago when we did the acquisition of Martin Bionics was the opportunity to bring together various players in the field of prosthetics research to create a focal point in this area of the United States,” he said.

The OU Health Sciences Center

SPORTS

is a supporter of the project, and prosthetic engineers at OUHSC are working with OrthoCare Innovations in their efforts to make patients more comfortable with replacement limbs, OUHSC spokesman Jonathan Day

PROSTHETICS Continues on page 2

Legislature pushes conservative agenda • Republicans hold majority in both houses for first time WILL HOLLAND The Oklahoma Daily Republicans gained control of both houses in November for the first time since Oklahoma became a state, giving party lawmakers an opportunity to advance their agendas this legislative session.

More than a month into the session, political science professor Keith Gaddie said Republicans already are having success in getting more conservative issues heard on the Senate floor. Republicans and Democrats had been tied in the Senate during the previous two years. There are currently 26 Republicans and 22 Democrats in the Senate, and 61 Republicans and 40 Democrats in the House. “[Republican lawmakers] are moving their agenda and they are moving it quickly,” Gaddie said.

One issue getting a serious look that might not have received a sec-

ond glance in the past is the discussion of tort reform, the reforming of the Oklahoma civil justice system.

Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, said this issue represents a large part of the Republican agenda.

Lamb said Democratic Gov. Brad Henry requested tort reform in 2004, but vetoed a bill that addressed the issue two years ago. He said Henry will have another tort reform bill on his desk this year, but even if he vetoes it, a referendum might be sent to the people of Oklahoma for a vote.

Rep. Bill Nations, D-Norman, said Henry may see more bills he disagrees

with this session than he has in the past.

“I would guess there will be a lot more vetoes out of his office,” Nations said.

He compared the current composition of the state political scene with the situation former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating faced in the late ’90s.

Keating was a Republican governor when both houses were controlled by Democrats. Nations said Keating had high veto numbers compared with Henry because of the legislative make up during Keating’s term, but that

LEGISLATURE Continues on page 2

OU parking permit price fourth-lowest in Big 12 amount of money, the cost might be easier to swallow once permit prices are put into perspective with the rest of the prices in the Big 12 Conference.

OU is the fourth cheapest school in the Big 12 when it comes to parking, and students will not see a rise in prices next year, said Kris Glenn, parking services CLARK FOY spokesman. The numbers are based off parking prices The Oklahoma Daily from the 2008-2009 school year.

“This is something that OU parking prides itself on,” Every August students voice their frustrations with the high parking permit costs and the low number of he said. “This will be the fifth consecutive year that spots available, but they might find their frustrations permit prices will not increase.”

The most expensive school in the Big 12 is the misplaced.

OU’s student parking permit costs $195 for a full academic year. While this may seem like a large PARKING Continues on page 2

• $195 price tag will not increase in 2009-2010

Photo illustration by Amy Frost

Zach Butler/The Daily

The baseball team is now on a six-game winning streak after beating the California Golden Bears 9-6 on Monday. See page 7 for details.

TODAY’S INDEX Campus Notes 2 Classifieds 8 8 Crossword Horoscope 9 L&A 9, 10

News 3, 5, 6 Opinion 4 Police Reports 2 Sports 7 Sudoku 8

WEATHER FORECAST

TODAY

LOW 57° HIGH 83°

WEDNESDAY LOW 32° HIGH 48° Source: Oklahoma Weather Lab

EVEN

2

ODD

News

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Budget increases needed to keep OU libraries atop Big 12 • Moving books “We know this is the worst time to off-site storage to ask people to add money to a budget, but this is a 10 year plan.” part of 10-year LeRoy Blank, task force chairman plan funding of OU’s libraries by $1 million for 10 years, starting in 1996, to increase their competitiveness within the Big 12.

LeRoy Blank, task force chairman, said OU libraries were ranked second in the Big 12 in 2006, compared with fifth place in 1996. Blank said this was due to the increase in

JACKIE CLEWS Contributing Writer The Faculty Senate Library Task Force recommended extending a budget addition for the OU library system for 10 more years.

The plan increased the yearly

CAMPUS NOTES

POLICE REPORTS Names are compiled from the Norman Police Department and OUPD. The reports serve as a record of arrests, not convictions.

Those listed are innocent until proven guilty.

TODAY

AGGRAVATED DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

CAREER SERVICES

Arthur Thomas Williams, 21, Classen Boulevard, Sunday

Career Services will host a presentation on graduate school preparation at 10 a.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Ciera Charee Collier, 21, Jenkins and Lindsey, Friday Audra Marie Sheffield, 23, Boyd Street and Asp Avenue, Sunday

CHRISTIANS ON CAMPUS Christians on Campus will host a Bible study at noon in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

PUBLIC INTOXICATION Chad Thomas Bliss, 20, 794 Asp Ave., Sunday, also molesting property and unlawful use of a driver’s license

CAREER SERVICES

POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA

Career Services will host a presentation about second interviews at 1 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Trae Emanuel Gaines, 20, 1000 W. Lindsey St., Sunday, also possession of a controlled dangerous substance Zachary Adam Ellis, 19, Walker 11th Floor East, Sunday, also possession of drug paraphernalia

THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC The School of Music will host a Sutton Concert Series performance at 8 p.m. in Catlett Music Center.

POSSESSION OF ALCOHOL Stephen Michael McNaught, 19, 1011 Lairds Woods Circle, Sunday, also social host

WEDNESDAY

BARKING DOG Jesse Allan Rodriguez, 25, 1311 McKinley Ave., Saturday

CAREER SERVICES Career Services will host an informational session about how to break into pharmaceutical sales at noon in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

MUNICIPAL WARRANT Amanda Shirl Shafer, 26, 1110 W. Comanche St., Saturday

OUTRAGING PUBLIC DECENCY Mason Thomas Enix, 19, Lloyd Noble Center, Saturday

CHRISTIANS ON CAMPUS Christians on Campus will host a Bible study at 12:30 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCURACY

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS CENTER

The Daily has a long-standing commitment to serve readers by providing accurate coverage and analysis. Errors are corrected as they are identified. Readers should bring errors to the attention of the editorial board for further investigation.

Rick Roberts, OU’s diplomat in residence, will host a discussion about getting foreign service and government jobs at 1:30 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

ERROR SUBMISSIONS e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666

funding. If OU wants to prevent slipping to the bottom of the list again, it needs to continue investing in Bizzell Memorial Library, he said.

“We know this is the worst time to ask people to add money to a budget, but this is a 10 year plan,” Blank said. “We expect a lot of

progress over the next decade and in order to stay competitive this is what we have to do.”

The task force hopes to get the money from various endowments and one-time donations.

Another part of the proposal included hiring more library personnel.

OU libraries became very competitive in many areas over the past decade, but fell behind in the number of library personnel, according to library spokeswoman Sarah Robbins.

“We have done really well on money spent on materials and books but we haven’t done as well on staff, so having a bigger staff

would help you enhance your services,” Robbins said.

In 1996 and 1997, “the library was viewed as a physical location which served as a fundamental source of knowledge,” according to the report.

Blank said students and faculty use the library differently now, relying more on Web-based services.

To accommodate, the report proposes a “shift to enormous e-utilization and Learning Centers while maintaining hard copies and other necessary materials.”

Leslie Haymon, political science senior, does not agree with moving books to off-site storage.

Parking

Legislature

University of Texas, which currently reports commuter lot permits to be as much as $602, and residence hall garage permits as much as $743. Texas A&M is another school at the top of the price list, with students paying up to $660 for a garage permit. Students at the University of Nebraska pay $450 per permit.

The University of Missouri, Iowa State University and Oklahoma State University are the only schools cheaper than OU in the Big 12, with OSU ranked as the cheapest.

OSU’s prices may seem unfair to OU students, but there is a reason its permits are just under $50. OSU’s lots are lower quality, with unpaved gravel lots miles away from campus, Glenn said.

OU’s lots are higher quality and much closer to campus.

Students at OU have long complained about the lack of available parking, but the numbers show that spaces are reasonably available to students.

There are 10,033 parking spots on campus that require permits. More than 11,000 permits have been sold since Feb. 3, which is more than the amount of spaces needed, as not everyone is on campus at the same time, said Chase Roberts, UOSA director of off-campus living and transportation, in an e-mail to Amanda Holloway, UOSA president and advertising and marketing senior.

OU students, faculty and staff have lobbied for more parking garages on campus, an obvious solution to the problem. But building parking garages can get pricey.

If OU were to build a new parking garage, it could be between $3,000 and $3,500 per spot if OU owned the land.

If OU did not own the land, it could end up costing $10,000 per spot, said Roberts, entrepreneurship and finance senior.

If the $195 is still out of question for students, OU offers parking permits that are valid after 3:30 p.m. only.

While the hours are later and do not include the evening, the price is much cheaper and will remain at $25.90 for the rest of this semester, while regular permits for the remainder of the 20092010 school year are $73.20.

could change now that Republicans control both houses.

“Gov. Henry has not had to face this until now,” Nations said.

Lamb also said he was frustrated because some Democratic senators debated against Republican Sen. Mike Mazzei’s grocery tax elimination legislation last week. Mazzei is a senator from Tulsa.

He said tax cuts benefiting middleclass Oklahomans were supported by the Democrats’ own agenda, and he does not understand why some Democrats opposed the bill, which passed the Senate last week by a 38-8 vote.

“I found that ironic, for lack of a better word,” Lamb said. “I was confused by it.”

Gaddie said Lamb may not understand the Democrats’ logic because he has never been in their shoes.

“He’s never been through the experience of having another guy in the majority,” Gaddie said.

Minority floor leader Sen. Charlie Laster, D-Shawnee, said the Democrats who debated against the grocery tax legislation were doing so because they thought the bill represented Republican politicking.

Laster said the bill was read with the title off, so it can’t become law. Both Sens. Mike Johnson and David Myers voted against the bill.

Continued from page 1

“I can understand why they might move some of the books online, like the ones that get a lot of circulation, but I like hard copies more,” Haymon said. “Even if you have a pretty fast internet connection, if you have a 200 page book online, it can take a while for those pages to load.”

Robbins said the report is meant to give recommendations to OU’s administration and is not a finalized plan.

“This is more big picture,” Robbins said. “The report is meant to guide administrators on how to grow the libraries in the next decade.”

Continued from page 1

“There is a learning curve when the majority changes,” Rep. Bill Nations, D-Norman Johnson, R-Kingfisher, is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Myers, R-Ponca City, is vice chairman of the same committee.

Laster said the fact that neither voted for the bill to eliminate the tax on groceries shows they knew it would never become law.

Nations said the House went through similar growing pains when the majority shifted four years ago, and now both parties in the Senate are having to adjust to their new identities in order to accomplish their agendas.

“There is a learning curve when the majority changes,” Nations said.

Despite the bickering, Gaddie said Republicans definitely are benefiting from their majority. Republican bills that might not have passed when the Senate was tied have a better chance of passing now, and bills that would have been killed early are at least getting heard in committee.

U2

Continued from page 1 nity to bring more big bands to Norman in the future.”

Putting Norman on the map for more large-venue concerts also excited Janay Clougherty, linguistics senior.

“I really hope it puts Norman on the map,” she said. “They’re the biggest band in the world. I mean if we can get U2, we can get anybody.”

The presence of a global band like U2, and the thousands who come to see them, might also fare well for local business, including the bars and restaurants on Campus Corner.

Alexis Smith, an employee of Louie’s on Campus Corner, had already heard about the concert from a friend, and said a massive influx of thousands throughout campus in October can’t be bad for business.

“I imagine we’ll treat it like an extra

game day,” she said.

Some, however, merely shrug at the prospect of a world-famous band performing in Norman. Nick Southerland, English senior, said U2 isn’t among his favorite bands.

“Only people’s dads [listen to U2], man,” he said.

The Oklahoma tour date wasn’t the only one removed from U2’s list.

Other dates removed from the list included Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles and Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas — all home to college sporting events.

Web sites like U2tours.com, Pollstar. com and Rollingstone.com still mention the college-stadium dates, but the official tour dates now stop at Sept. 24 at Giants Stadium in New York.

Prosthetics Continued from page 1

said.

The $70 million venture is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, Johns Hopkins University, the Oklahoma EDGE Fund and the Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency.

The Department of Defense has funded many prosthetic research projects to provide military amputees with prosthetics, OrthoCare Innovations spokeswoman Carol Sorrel said.

OrthoCare Innovations focuses on improving the technology used for artificial limbs and allowing prosthetists to use real-time gait analysis data to optimize prosthesis alignment for each individual, according to the

company.

“Our focus is to produce prosthetic limbs that adjust to the lifestyle of the individual and not the individual adjusting to it,” OrthoCare Innovations spokesman Andrew

Pollock said.

He also said the company has had two students from OU intern with them, and they are always looking for new, promising interns who are interested in prosthetic research.

BE A PART OF OU HISTORY.

(AND SHOW THEM THAT YOU MADE IT.)

100

TH

SOONER yearbook

SCHEDULE YOUR

FREE SENIOR PORTRAIT

Call (405) 325-3668 Or walk in: Crimson Room/Union Today- Friday Sooner yearbook is a publication of OU Student Media in the division of Student Affairs.

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

EVEN

ODD CYAN

MAGENTA

YELLOW

BLACK

Nijim Dabbour, managing editor dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666 fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Campus News

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

3

Helpful tips for off-campus housing

• Knowing what to look for makes the process less intimidating JAMIE BIRDWELL The Oklahoma Daily Finding a new place to live can be time consuming, costly and confusing.

New renters should set aside time to thoroughly understand the process of moving into a new home.

After leaving the dorms, most college students move into one of three types of rental housing: regular-lease apartments, individual-lease apartments or rental houses. Each has distinct advantages and disadvantages of which prospective renter should be aware.

Photo illustration by Elizabeth Nalewajk/The Daily

Renting an apartment with individual leases

Finding a new place to live leaves many students wondering which is the best way to locate housing. Students who prepare A good starting point for first-time themselves ahead of time say they found the process to be renters is an apartment where each roommate signs a separate lease and much simpler in the long run.

is responsible for their own rent. If a roommate is unable to pay rent one month, other roommates are not responsible for that portion.

Rent is fixed, and usually includes electricity, gas, water, cable, wireless Internet and furnishings. Future residents should always take a tour of the apartment complex before applying.

Usually, college students need a cosigner due to bad or no credit. Apartment complex owners need to see that a responsible person will be able to pay rent in case the tenant cannot.

The leases for apartments like these are generally 12 months, but 10-month leases are sometimes available at a higher rate.

Rent is usually due at the first of the month. Individually leased apartments are arranged like dorms because the majority of tenants are college students. Most complexes also host community events like spring break trips or holiday parties.

The easiest place to start: Find a sign that says “for rent,” call the number and ask for details.

The next step usually is taking a tour of the house with the landlord or leaseholder.

If you are still interested, then you must fill out an application. Again, a cosigner is probably needed because most college students do not have a credit score or adequate renter’s history.

If you choose a house, you must pay a security deposit — usually $200 to $400 — which will be refunded after the lease expires. A few days before moving in, you should make sure to contact utility companies to arrange for services like electricity, gas, water and yard care.

Rent is usually due at the first of the month, and each leaseholder is responsible for their part. Most landlords give one lease per bedroom.

If tenants wish to have pets, they usually have to pay a deposit, which can be returned if the house is left with no damage after the lease is up.

HOW

Tuesday

Source: Matt Jameson, University Greens spokesman

Renting a house A more adventurous renter might prefer renting a house near campus.

Source: Randy Halsne, Premier Home Leasing spokeswoman

Renting an apartment with standard lease Renting a regular apartment is similar to renting a house.

First, you need to find an apartment you are interested in and tour a model.

If still interested, you need to fill out an application and wait for a credit check. Again, a cosigner will probably be needed if you don’t have a rent history or enough credit.

After a credit check, a holding fee may be required to ensure the apartment is kept available.

Roommates generally sign together on one lease and are jointly responsible for the month’s rent. If one roommate is unable to pay, the others are responsible for that portion.

Like houses, a few days before moving in, you need to set up your utilities like gas, electricity and water.

Pets are allowed at certain apartment complexes, but the deposit is only refundable if there is no damage.

Lease agreements usually require written notice 30 days prior to moving out before the lease expires.

Source: Joan Sparwasser, Hampton Woods leasing agent

Smart meters could help minimize energy consumption • Norman could become forerunner in alternate energy reformation LEIGHANNE MANWARREN The Oklahoma Daily Officials are looking at Norman as a potential leader in Oklahoma’s effort to minimize energy dependence.

An energy project by OG&E, slated to start in Norman in the summer of 2010, and a push by city officials to use alternative fuels in Norman vehicles, are each expected to reduce the city’s carbon footprint next year.

OG&E announced last month that Norman will be the first Oklahoma metropolitan area where “smart meters” are installed as part of the Positive Energy Community project.

Smart meters are digital meters that look much like traditional meters, said OG&E spokesman Gil Broyals. But the outdoor meters feed information to a wireless device inside the home that lets homeowners know how much energy they’re using.

The device plugs into electrical outlets and displays data on energy use. That data, which shows consumers how much energy they’re using at different times of day, helps make customers aware of when they are wasting energy or could afford to cut back, said Broyals.

The first test run of the Positive Energy Community project was conducted in northwest Oklahoma City last summer. During the test run, homes that had smart meters installed used about 15 percent less energy than they did before the new meters were installed.

OG&E officials hope implementing the program will allow them to avoid building another hydrocarbon plant in the state.

The program is being evaluated by the Oklahoma Corporate Commission. They are expected to decide whether to approve the project in September. If they do, OG&E will immediately start to install the meters

for use in June 2010, Broyals said.

He said Norman was chosen as the launch site because its large population will give OG&E the statistical information it needs to evaluate the program before it moves into the rest of the state.

After summer 2010, OG&E will release the energy statistics and move to install smart meters all over its customer area.

Norman City Council members are also working to reduce energy consumption in the city.

They approved a proposal to adopt a more aggressive alternative fuel program for the city’s vehicles at their Tuesday, Feb. 24th meeting. Already, 54 percent of Norman’s vehicles use some form of alternative energy, according to Mike White, superintendent of the Norman Department of Public Works Fleet.

With the new fuel program, which will require Norman to either build its own compressed natural gas station or buy natural gas from OU, the city expects to recoup its loss on compressed natural gas vehicles within six years and hybrid vehicles within 18 years.

Michelle Gray/The Daily

“Smart Meters” will replace old gas meters like the ones pictured here, in Norman starting in the summer of 2010.

The new meters will look identical, except they will have a digital read-out.

See

NAKED! er, ‘SEE AU NATURAL’

you know, without glasses or contacts!

Pack light this Spring Break by leaving your glasses, prescription sunglasses, contact lenses and your contact lens solution at home. Take advantage of our ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ Custom IntraLASIK offer now underway at Carter Eye Center. You’ll love our 2-for1 LASIK offer. You’re eyes will love it. It’s Spring Break like you’ve never seen. Call us today...

www.cartereyelasik.com

1.888.750.7962

4

Opinion

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

OUR VIEW

Ray Martin, opinion editor dailyopinion@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

YOUR VIEWS

Obama’s stem cell efforts great for American science President Barack Obama lifted former presi- playing field between the U.S. and its more dent George W. Bush’s ban on federal funding advanced competitors in Europe.

It’s also great for America’s status as a counfor embryonic stem cell research Monday.

The move should provide opportunities for try of research, discovery and advancement.

Science is the driving force of discovvast amounts of potential disease-curery and technological advancement. ing research. See Page 5 for details.

OUR VIEW If America is to continue as a global Monday was a good day for is an editorial power and a light to the rest of the America. selected and debated world, it needs to be at the forefront The research could help medical by the editorial board and written after a of the latest research and be setting experts and doctors find cures for majority opinion is science standards. disabling diseases such as Parkinson’s formed and approved Some would object that there are disease, and, if fruitful, would prevent by the editor. Our View is The Daily’s official moral issues at stake here. the people with those diseases from opinion.

But the existing embryos that will having to travel around the world in be used for research have already been order to find researchers who can slated to be destroyed. offer treatment or cures.

There is no reason researchers should be The U.S. has been behind the global curve in terms of scientific advances and research restricted from using these embryos for good.

And there’s no reason the president should efforts.

Obama’s move could level the intellectual prevent them from doing so.

Richard Dawkins disregarded science in Friday talk As a scientist, I was excited to attend Friday’s lecture by Richard Dawkins, expecting to hear a coherent scientific discussion by one of the world’s most well known biologists. Unfortunately, the lecture given in the name of science violated almost every principle used in both science and logic.

Dawkins started his talk by using a straw man argument, one of the first fallacies of logic one learns in any introductory logic or philosophy class. Instead of discussing why he doesn’t agree with those who promote intelligent design or a God hypothesis he simply ridiculed the ideas of “intelligent gravity” and the “stork theory of reproduction,” two ideas which are not really held by anyone.

Dawkins went on to make sweeping statements about purpose, human flexibility, and religion. As a scientist I kept waiting to see the data, facts, and evidence that supported these conclusions. However, none was presented. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t hear any data that supported his ideas about two types of purpose. I assume that something from his biological research has led him to such a conclusion, but no connection was made, and no evidence was given.

At times in his talk Dawkins made patently false statements. For instance, he said something to the effect that

those who derive their morality from the Koran or the Bible should actually read those books, apparently ignoring the millions, perhaps billions, of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the world who actually do read those books and still claim to derive morality from them.

If Dawkins meant that he didn’t think those books were a good source of morality or if he meant that he didn’t think the followers of those religions actually lived by the morality of their “holy” book, then he should have stated such. It would have been interesting to hear Dawkins’ ideas about the morality presented in the Bible, for instance, using good rules of exegesis, hermeneutics, and systematic theology to back up his claims, but that would have taken a level of research, logic, and thought that I found lacking in most of his statements.

If Dawkins’ lecture had been presented in my physics class, I would have given him a failing grade for lack of actual data to support the majority of his conclusions. Maybe in the future, if we want to celebrate scientific achievement, we could invite a speaker who would actually use the scientific method with good data, good rules of logic, good error analysis, and good facts to support his or her conclusions.

That would be a lecture worthy of celebrating a great scientist.

— MIKE STRAUSS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS

STAFF COLUMN

Dawkins intolerant of religion and faith Richard Dawkins is a very intelligent man. I don’t think anyone can contest that fact. His devotion to science and his promotion of the understanding of evolution are valuable contributions in their own right.

Besides his work in evolutionary biology, Dawkins is most famous for his criticisms of religion and faith, most of which are extensions of scientific empiricism into the realm of theology. He concludes that God is a delusion and that faith is dangerous and must be eliminated.

For his outspoken views in this regard, he has become the figurehead of a new atheism, the object of adulation among atheists and target of much derision among theists.

Though Dawkins says science and religion are contradictory, I disagree. One does not preclude the other. They answer different questions, describing different aspects of the human condition.

Science demands methodological naturalism. Said another way, it assumes no supernatural causes to explain phenomena. Dawkins has simply extended this methodological naturalism into philosophical naturalism, the idea that the universe is devoid of any scientifically unexplainable phenomena.

It seems many scientists utilize philosophical naturalism as well, and I concede that the majority of the scientific com-

munity is either atheist or agnostic. There are some, however, who manage to be people of both science and faith. As for these scientists, Dawkins is either baffled or insulting. He calls Francis Collins, who is a Christian and was leader of the Human Genome Project, “not a bright guy” after finding out about Collins’ Biblical beliefs.

What’s the point of pushing away intelligent and rational religious people?

Dawkins gives us the reason in his book “The God Delusion.” He writes, “I do everything in my power to warn people against faith itself, not just against socalled ‘extremist’ faith.

JOSHUA The teachings of ‘moderWADLIN ate’ religion, though not extremist in themselves, are an open invitation to extremism.”

This is an interesting statement from someone who calls himself a “cultural Christian.” Despite his crusade to eliminate faith, Dawkins participates in the traditions of a culture steeped in religion. This admission belies how little practical difference exists between moderate Christians and Dawkins himself.

His arguments do not regard the reality of the countless faithful who go about

their lives rationally, many making great contributions in the name of their faith. It’s belittling to assume that faith necessitates an open door to extremism.

I think this and other arguments Dawkins uses are ways of co-opting moral authority, wresting it from the clutches of religion.

This morally motivated extermination of faith is hard for me to fully separate from the moral claims derived from religion.

Dawkins propagates the comparison by using words like “evil” and “wicked”— words that carry significant religious baggage. He’s still using an appeal to dogmatism, only now it’s under the guise of strict reason.

Attacking all forms of religion (or simply belief in God) is not helpful if one’s goal is to eliminate religious extremism.

In fact, Dawkins himself admits that he doesn’t expect to change the minds of the most fervent believers. The kind of zero compromise policy he espouses will push away moderately-minded religious people who could be of great service in combating zealotry.

There’s no shortage of dangerous, religiously-motivated hate in the world, and we need more outspoken critics to combat such intolerance. Dawkins’s brand of polemic, generalizing criticism doesn’t accomplish this. Instead, it creates even wider divisions, ending in an even more strained relationship between atheists and

James Cornwell/The Daily

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins addresses an audience of more than 3,000 about the relationship between purpose and evolution on Friday evening in the McCasland Field House. theists.

With his attacking tone, Dawkins leaves no instruction for his followers on how to approach the religiously minded. In his wake he has left an army of vindictive supporters who see some hypothetical horde of religious fanatics as their enemy. These disciples, emboldened by their God Delusion-derived theological knowledge, continuously drive the wedge between atheists and theists put in place

by Dawkins, ignoring the fact that some of their rational and perfectly sane friends and family may be religious.

Being an advocate of both evolution and the idea that disbelief in God is the natu-

Dawkins’ lecture foreshadows future debate

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Assistant Managing Editor Night Editor Opinion Editor Photo Editor

Dane Beavers Whitney Bryen Steven Jones Luke Atkinson Judy Gibbs Robinson R.T. Conwell

Trevor Clark is a University College freshman.

V O I C E

NEWSROOM DIRECTORY Meredith Simons Nijim Dabbour Jamie Hughes Mack Burke Ray Martin Zach Butler

Dawkins’ affirming of naturalism establishes a concrete facet of evolutionary thinking in an area usually typified by vagueness.

The construction of this paradigm does more than guide the scientific understanding of humankind. It also carries secondary effects that Dawkins will not be pleased with.

Expanding the explanatory power of natural selection has incidentally enlarged the battleground upon which ideological wars are waged. Dawkins’ explanations invite a barrage of new (and some predictably legitimate) critiques of naturalism.

Dawkins attempted to describe the “purpose of purpose” through a naturalistic lens.

But in explaining seemingly metaphysical things like the mind in materialistic terms, he said another arguably metaphysical quality, intention, helps guide humans’ neo-purposes.

For Dawkins’ worldview to be found valid, qualities such as intention cannot be outside or above the bounds of nature.

People cannot prove that such qualities exist only within nature by means of reason, though. If the mind is the result of mindless processes alone then its credibility in discovering reality is undermined. All that remains is the capacity of the mind – as endowed by natural selection – enabling us to function in our environment.

Dawkins has been instrumental in advancing the popularity of evolutionary studies and atheistic paradigms, but the debate is far from over.

Senior Online Editor Multimedia Editor Sports Editor Life & Arts Editor Editorial Adviser Advertising Manager

O F

160 Copeland Hall 860 Van Vleet Oval Norman, OK 73019-0270 phone: (405) 325-3666 e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu

T H E The Fine Print

view has caused the burden of explaining the world in a purely naturalistic way to fall – at least partly – on his shoulders. That being said, he has adopted the duty of covering subjects like free will, morality, consciousness and, as the title of his Friday talk hints at, purpose.

Discussing such metaphysical issues in naturalistic terms is not new. Darwin attempted to give an explanation of religion and morals in his 1871 novel, “The Descent of Man.” From the 1970s to the present, scientists such as Francis Crick of the Salk Institute and Christof Koch of the California Institute of Technology have sought a biological foundation for abstract human qualities.

Dawkins contributes new definitions of seemingly intangible human qualities to the evolution debate and brings those definitions into the limelight.

In his lecture, Dawkins categorized phenomena like those aforementioned as being subversions of the mechanism of natural selection. He called this the double-edged sword of flexibility. He said the purposes instilled in people by unguided natural selection (archeopurposes) can be hijacked and utilized to fulfill a purpose guided by human intention (neo-purpose).

An example he gave was adoption. He said adoption makes no sense in a strict Darwinian world that promotes the survival of the fittest.

It is absurd to allow members of a society with different genes (not to mention those who may be somehow afflicted or handicapped) to survive at one’s own expense. Dawkins said this sort of behavior could be explained through a subversion of instinct for parental care.

Contact Us

T H E

Joshua Wadlin is an entrepreneurship senior.

COMMENTS OF THE DAY

STAFF COLUMN

Last week, an ad ran in The Daily challenging students to question whether or not Richard Dawkins, a renowned atheist and evolutionary biologist, even knows what he is talking about. The ad scorched Dawkins with quotations from people such as Michael Ruse, who was recently invited to speak as part of the 2009 Darwin celebrations, and H. Allen Orr, a guest lecture of the OU Zoology Seminar Series and prominent critic of intelligent design.

Whether Dawkins does or does not know what he is talking about is a topic worthy of discussion (after all, he did tell thousands of people to teach their children “how to think and not what to think” just before he said they should be taught evolutionary ideas).

However, after attending Dawkins’ Friday lecture on TREVOR “The Purpose of Purpose,” a different question has CLARK come to my attention: “Does Dawkins understand what he is doing?”

This question is not asking if Dawkins is witless or unintelligent. It does ask whether or not he is aware of where his words are guiding the current debate between naturalists and super-naturalists.

The words of Dawkins, a rising star in the realm of pop-atheism, are heard by many and affect how the case for naturalistic evolution is presented and defended. His ambition to shine as a “Bright” and spread an atheistic world-

ral conclusion of scientific logic, Dawkins makes science, especially evolution, that much more inaccessible to people of faith.

Instead of being positive advocate of reason and a force for good in the battle against religious extremism, Dawkins has shown us even those without a god can be just as intolerant as those who act in the name of one. Instead of encouraging the faithful to be critical and rational, he is driving them away from science and reason, widening the imposed dichotomy between religious people and scientists.

In response to Monday’s our view about the need for UOSA reform I am opposed to the UOSA, or at least to it having any real power. The only winners in the UOSA game are students who want that kind of student government thing to put on their resumes. The rest of us gain nothing, and may in fact stand to lose as a result of incompetent student leadership. I would infinitely prefer to have decisions in most of the topics in the UOSA’s juristdication made by experts appointed on the criteria of their administrative, not electioneering skills. Democracy is already making enough of a mess of this country. The last thing we need is more.

Furthermore, underpriveleged students are not likely to have a cultural background that encourages them to enter student government. As a result, most UOSA officials don’t have any concept of what it’s like to have a difficult time paying for bare bones tuition, textbooks and housing. As a result, a lot of ill-attended and/or unnecessary organizations and functions are recieving plenty of funding.

- POSTED BY TOMMYSCHEURICH AT OUDAILY.COM

Tommy, Although I do not agree with your assessment of UOSA, I understand your frustration. One thing I will point out is that many students who represent their peers in Student Congress depend heavily on scholarships and loans to get through school. In fact, I would argue that Student Congress is actually a fairly accurate representation of the undergraduate student population at OU. As a member of the UOSA Budgetary Committee for the past six semesters, I am very familiar with the funding process and how and why groups receive the funding that they do. I would encourage you (or anyone who is interested in this issue or any issue) to e-mail me at CongressVC@ou.edu so we can meet and talk about this. We are always looking for input and ways to improve the process, and I would love to meet with you and discuss this important issue. Without a constant dialog between students and UOSA, everyone loses.

- POSTED BY JOHN W. JENNINGS, VICE CHAIR, STUDENT CONGRESS AT OUDAILY.COM

U N I V E R S I T Y

The Oklahoma Daily is a public forum and OU’s independent student voice.

Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and should be fewer than 250 words, typed, double spaced and signed by the author(s). Letters will be cut to fit. Students must list their major and classification. OU staff and faculty must list their title. All letters must include a daytime phone number. Authors submitting letters in person must present photo identification. Submit letters

O F

O K L A H O M A

Sunday through Thursday, in 160 Copeland Hall. Letters can also be submitted via e-mail to dailyopinion@ou.edu.

Guest columns are accepted at editor’s discretion. ’Our View’ is the voice of The Oklahoma Daily.

Editorial Board members are The Daily’s editorial staff.

The board meets Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall.

Columnists’ and cartoonists’ opinions are not necessarily the opinions of The Daily Editorial Board.

News

5

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Stem cell decision exposes divide • Healing human life takes precedence in some religions Mark Lennihan/AP Photo

Circuit City employee Jose Juarez reacts Sunday as he leaves the store as it closes on the final day of business in New York. The chain closed 567 stores nationwide, leaving more than 34,000 employees jobless.

Buffet: Economy ‘fell off cliff’ in worst-case scenario • Billionaire says leaders must clear up confusion OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett remains confident that America’s best days are ahead, but he says the nation likely will face higher unemployment and eventually inflation because of the current economic crisis.

Buffett said the nation’s leaders need to emphasize a consistent message, and they should support President Barack Obama’s efforts to repair the economy because fear is dominating Americans’ behavior.

Buffett said the economy has basically followed the worstcase scenario he envisioned six months ago.

“It’s fallen off a cliff,” Buffett said Monday during a live appearance on cable network CNBC. “Not only has the economy slowed down a lot, but people have really changed their habits like I haven’t seen.”

Buffett said the changes are reflected in the results of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s subsidiaries. He said Berkshire’s jewelry companies have suffered, but more people have been willing to switch to Geico to save money on car insurance. The three-hour-long interview aired from another Berkshire subsidiary that has been hampered by the economy, the Nebraska Furniture Mart store in Omaha.

He predicted that unemployment will climb a lot higher before the recession is done, but he also reiterated his optimistic long-term view: “Everything will be all right. We do have the greatest economic machine that man has ever created.”

Fear and confusion have been driving consumer and investor behavior in recent months, Buffett said.

The nation’s leaders need to clear up the confusion before anyone will become more confident, and he said all 535 members of Congress should stop the partisan bickering about solutions. He said politicians should also stop trying to use the current economic crisis to force through other policy changes.

The embryonic stem cell research debate is steeped with religious arguments, with some faith traditions convinced the research amounts to killing innocent life, others citing the moral imperative to alleviate suffering, and plenty of religious believers caught somewhere in between.

President Barack Obama’s order Monday opening the door for federal taxpayer dollars to fund expanded embryonic stem cell research again brings those often colliding interests to the fore.

Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called Obama’s move “a sad victory of politics over science and ethics.”

“This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested,” Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, said in a statement.

On the other side is the Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, a United Church of Christ minister and a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary.

“There is an ethical imperative to relieve suffering and promote healing,” she said. “This is good policy for a religiously pluralistic society that cares about human suffering

Ron Edmonds/AP Photo

President Barack Obama is applauded by members of Congress, and others, after signing an Executive Order on stem cells and a Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity Monday in the East Room of the White House in Washington. and the relief of human suffering.”

Obama alluded to religion in announcing the changes, saying, “As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly.”

Some religious traditions teach that because life begins at conception, any research that destroys a human embryo, as this research does, is tantamount to murder and is never justified. The Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention are among

those that oppose the research.

Other more liberal traditions, including mainline Protestant and Jewish institutions, believe the promise to relieve suffering is paramount. In 2004, the governing body of the Episcopal Church said it would favor the research as long as it used embryos that otherwise would have been destroyed, that embryos were not created for research purposes, or were not bought and sold.

Under Jewish law, an embryo is genetic material that does not have the status of a person. According to the Talmud, the embryo is “simply water” in the first 40 days of gesta-

tion. Healing and preserving human life takes precedence over all the other commandments in Judaism.

Some groups and faiths are divided on the issue. Muslims disagree over — among other things — whether an embryo in the early stage of development has a soul.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church, has not taken a position.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor from Orlando, Fla., who serves on an Obama White House advisory panel, said he was encouraged by Monday’s developments.

—AP

U.S. NEWS Utah relaxes drinking law

Case still on against Blagojevich

Virginia installs smoking ban

SALT LAKE CITY — Getting into a bar in Utah is about to become a lot easier.

Gov. Jon Huntsman and state House and Senate leaders agreed Monday to eliminate the state’s much-criticized private club system, which requires someone to fill out an application and pay a fee for the right to enter a bar unless he or she is the guest of a member.

CHICAGO — A federal judge has turned down a request from impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to have Chicago’s top federal prosecutor and his staff thrown off the corruption case against him.

Chief Judge James F. Holderman of U.S. District Court said in an order issued Friday that “no legal precedent supports the granting of the relief sought by the defendant Blagojevich in this motion.”

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The home state of Marlboro and the world’s largest cigarette factory is banning most smoking in restaurants and bars.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine signed a bill Monday that generally restricts smoking to separate rooms that have their own ventilation. It takes effect Dec. 1.

—AP

—AP

YOU ARE INVITED! DEDICATIONS TODAY

The Transportation Operations Center 1:30 p.m.

510 E. Chesapeake Parking is available in the lots adjacent to the building.

The Joseph K. Lester University of Oklahoma Police Department Headquarters 3:30 p.m.

2775 Monitor Ave. Parking is available in the lots adjacent to the building.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, please call the Office of Special Events at (405) 325-3784.

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

6

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

World News

‘Swiss gigolo’ gets 6 years • Gigolo uses well-praticed scam on BMW heiress Klatten

Mohammad Iqbal/AP Photo

People comfort a man who lost his brother, a police officer killed in the car bombing Saturday, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Pakistan crisis deepens • Analysts and commentators predict months of political chaos ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s shaky government threatened the opposition leader with sedition charges on Monday after he called for protests against the president, raising the stakes in a political crisis that threatens to weaken the country’s fight against al-Qaida and Taliban.

Lawyers and supporters of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif are vowing to blockade the parliament later this week over the refusal of President Asif Ali Zardari’s government to reinstate fired judges.

Pakistan was thrown into political chaos last month when the Supreme Court barred Sharif and his brother from elected office.

Since then, both men have led an increasingly vocal campaign against the government, staging near daily anti-government rallies.

Interior Minister chief Rehman Malik warned Sharif’s speeches in recent days came close to breaking the law.

“Inciting people for disobedience is sedition,” Malik told a televised media conference. “It could get life imprisonment.”

Malik said the government had “no intention” of arresting Sharif, but hinted it had grounds to do so, especially if violence broke out during the march. Any arrest of Sharif or other high-profile members of his party would be a major escala-

tion in the crisis.

Hours earlier, Sharif told a large crowd of supporters “we cannot leave Pakistan at the mercy of Zardari.”

“People should rise and join the long march to Islamabad to save Pakistan,” he said. “The emotion I am seeing here is a prelude to a revolution.”

Malik said the government would not ban the march, but said the protesters would not be allowed to rally in front of the parliament building or other downtown areas.

Analysts and commentators fear months of political chaos. Many are predicting the military will issue the country’s squabbling civilian leaders with an ultimatum or simply step in and seize power as they have done so often in the past.

Others say the crisis could lead to midterm elections or a limping, wounded government scraping by until polls in 2013.

“I see chaos, and as the chaos lengthens and intensifies, I see two possibilities,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences. “One is the military directly takes over, the other is it carries out some form of intervention and tells the leaders to mend their fences or else.”

The Obama administration has yet to make any public statement on the crisis, but last week Britain appealed for political unity, saying the bickering was distracting the country from the “mortal threat” posed by militants like al-Qaida and the Taliban — a point illustrated last week by an attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket team that killed six people.

The seeds of the political crisis

date back to March 2007 when then-military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf fell out with Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and fired him, triggering nationwide protests by lawyers that helped oust Musharraf.

Zardari was elected president six months ago after his party won elections in the wake of the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto.

Before his election, he publicly promised to reinstate Chaudhry and other independent-minded judges fired along with him.

He now refuses to do that, saying Chaudhry has become a political figure, though many analysts say his real reason is that he fears legal challenges to his rule, particularly concerning a deal he and his wife entered into with Musharraf that saw corruption cases against them dropped.

Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, say Zardari orchestrated the Supreme Court ruling to neutralize them.

The lawyers, Sharif’s party and several other smaller parties are vowing to drive to Islamabad on Thursday from around the country to rally in front of the parliament.

They could arrive in the capital

by Saturday, though authorities in Pakistan have often rounded up protest organizers in advance of demonstrations, crippling them before they begin.

A spokesman for Sharif’s party said around 100,000 people would show up, though analysts said it was hard to predict numbers, especially since the government has not made it clear to what lengths it will go to stop the rally.

—AP

MUNICH — A man dubbed “the Swiss gigolo” by the German media was sentenced to six years in prison Monday for defrauding Germany’s richest woman of €7 million ($9 million) and attempting to blackmail her for tens of millions more.

Helg Sgarbi (S’Gar-bee) admitted to the Munich court that he threatened to release secretly recorded videotapes of trysts with BMW heiress Susanne Klatten, 46, unless the married woman gave him millions of euros (dollars) to keep quiet.

The 44-year-old also admitted convincing Klatten to give him €7 million ($9 million) by saying it was for the treatment of a girl left paraplegic after he hit her with his car.

The Munich state court found Sgarbi guilty of fraud and attempted blackmail of Klatten, who turned him in to police.

He was also found guilty of fraud and attempted blackmail for taking €2.4 million ($3 million) from three other women — identified by the initials H., R., and S. — who were located by

Uwe Lein, Alexandra Beier/AP Photo

Combo shows German billionaire Susanne Klatten in Munich, June 6, 2005, and Swiss Helg Sgarbi, right, during his trial on Monday in Munich. authorities in their investigation of the Klatten case.

Prosecutor Thomas SteinkrausKoch praised Klatten for her bravery in stepping forward.

“The only victim who came to us and gave a witness statement is Mrs. Klatten. We had to find the others, with great difficulty,” Steinkraus-Koch said.

Prosecutors said the women were the victims in a series of scams by Sgarbi, who trained as a lawyer, spoke six languages and worked as a banker at Credit Suisse until the mid-1990s. He also served as a reserve officer in the Swiss army, according to prosecutors.

According to Swiss court documents, a countess 50 years

older than Sgarbi accused him of swindling her in 2001 but then had charges dropped after he returned 20 million Swiss francs ($17 million) to her, Germany’s Stern magazine said.

Steinkraus-Koch confirmed that one case had been dropped in Switzerland and Sgarbi had been sentenced to six months probation on another case in the country.

“It was not the first time he was involved in such things in this manner,” Steinkraus-Koch said.

Klatten did not attend the fourhour trial and her attorney made no statement to the court.

—AP

WORLD BRIEFLY Sudan frees president’s chief opponent

Zimbabwe premier: Crash was accident

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan freed a senior opposition leader Monday who was jailed after urging the president to face war crimes charges, an apparent attempt to show unity as the country defies an international order to bring its leader to trial over bloodshed in Darfur.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s prime minister said Monday that a car crash that killed his wife was an accident and that there was “no foul play” in the collision, despite at least three previous assassination attempts against him.

Bolivia expels another US diplomat LA PAZ , Bolivia — Bolivian President Evo Morales says he’s expelling another U.S. diplomat — the second in six months.

Morales alleges the second secretary at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz conspired with opposition groups. Francisco Martinez is a political officer and a career diplomat.

Bangladesh bans YouTube after mutiny DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh blocked access to the video-sharing site YouTube after it hosted a recording of a tense meeting between the prime minister and army officials following a bloody mutiny by border guards, officials said Monday.

—AP

CLIMB FOR 2 0 KOMEN 09 Event Times March 24........3:00 p.m.

March 26........3:00 p.m.

March 30....... 6:30 p.m.

April 1.............6:30 p.m.

April 3............ 6:30 p.m.

• To reserve your spot, e-mail the Women’s Outreach Center at woc@ou.edu. Register quickly! Each day is limited to ten participants.

• The $5 registration fee includes a T-shirt and 1 hour of training on the Huston Huffman Rockwall.

• All proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. For information or accommodations on the basis of disability, please call the Women’s Outreach Center at 405-325-4929.

Sports

Steven Jones, sports editor dailysports@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Baseball

Sooners defeat California, 9-6 • Seitzer’s four RBIs lift OU over Golden Bears JONO GRECO The Oklahoma Daily Bases loaded, two outs. Pitcher versus batter. One on one.

A misplaced seventh-inning fastball from California freshman pitcher Erik Johnson was smashed to the center-field warning track by freshman first baseman Cameron Seitzer brought in three runs and was the difference in the Sooners’ (13-3) 9-6 victory over the Bears (8-5) Monday.

“It was a big situation. [We’ve] got two outs, bases loaded, and I was [thinking] ‘Just put the ball in play somehow,’” Seitzer said.

“He gave me a fastball and I took advantage of it.”

Seitzer, whose game-winning RBIs were worthy of a post-game, shaving-cream pie in the face, finished the day 3-3 with a home run, double and four RBIs. “[Seitzer] is very confident and he doesn’t get beat up when he doesn’t happen to have a good at-bat,” head coach Sunny Golloway said. “He comes back, he makes adjustments and today he was the hot hand, and we were fortunate to have him.”

Seitzer is hitting .407 with two home runs and 11 RBIs on the season, and his three hits and four RBIs Monday is a single-game season high.

OU’s junior pitcher J.R. Robinson faced some first-inning problems as he gave up two solo home runs before he settled down and gained his composure.

In his remaining three-and-one-third innings, Robinson pitched out of a few jams and allowed one run on five hits before being taken out of the game in the fifth inning with one out and the bases loaded.

“I thought [Robinson’s performance] was good and he continues to get better,” Zach Butler/The Daily Golloway said. “He wants to come into righthanders with fastballs, and he has particular Freshman first baseman Cameron Seitzer (33) hits a home run down the left field line during the third pitches he likes to throw at certain times..., inning of Monday’s 9-6 victory over California. Seitzer had four RBIs in the game including three runs in but sometimes that doesn’t work.”

Redshirt sophomore pitcher Tyson Seng the seventh, giving OU the lead. came into the game with the bases loaded an RBI single by junior designated hitter Ross and got California sophomore first baseHubbard. man Mark Canha to The only blemground into an inningThe Sooners look to finish off their eight ish on Seng’s record ending double play.

Monday came in the game homestand with a perfect record today Seng overcame ninth inning when he in a double-header against Houston Baptist. adversity again in the gave up a solo home When: 3:00 p.m. sixth inning when he run and was creditWhere: L. Dale Mitchell Park shut down another ed with another run California threat with The second game will begin 30 minutes scored when junior a two-out fly out with after the first one ends. pitcher Jarrett Semler the tying run in scorwas in the game. ing position.

California added two games that we’ve played in this stretch run?

OU’s offense more runs before But, we’ve got guys that I’ve said all along backed up Robinson Semler shut down a like to play.” by tagging Bears ninth-inning rally with OU, which is working on a six-game sophomore pitcher Head coach Sunny Golloway a strikeout. winning streak and is 10-0 at home, ends Kevin Miller for five “I think our guys its homestand today with a double-header runs in six innings of are probably fatigued against Houston Baptist. Game one is schedwork. a little bit,” Golloway uled for 3 p.m. and game two will begin 30 The Sooners added four more runs in the seventh with Seitzer’s three-run double and said. “I mean, how can you not be after the minutes after the completion of the first.

BE THERE

“He comes back, he makes adjustments and today he was the hot hand and we were fortunate to have him.”

SPORTS BRIEFS Women’s basketball makes strong showing in All-Big 12 awards

12’ s coaches.

Here’s a look at some of the conference awards:

A day after the men’s basketball team found out that sophomore forward Blake Griffin was the conference’s Player of the Year, the women’s team got similar news on Monday.

Led by senior center Courtney Paris, who received the Big 12 Player of the Year honor for the third consecutive year, the Sooners dominated the conference awards.

Five different Sooners and head coach Sherri Coale received awards.

All awards were voted on by the Big

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Courtney Paris, OU COACH OF THE YEAR: Sherri Coale, OU NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Tanisha Smith, Texas A&M FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Whitney Hand, OU DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Danielle Grant, Texas A&M

SIXTH MAN AWARD: Nyeshia Stevenson, OU ALL-BIG 12 FIRST TEAM C: Danielle Wilson, Baylor C: Courtney Paris, OU F: Ashley Paris, OU F: Ashley Sweat: Kansas State G/F: Danielle Grant, Texas A&M G: Shalee Lehning, Kansas State G: Danielle Robinson, OU G: Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State G: Takia Starks, Texas A&M ALL-BIG 12 DEFENSIVE TEAM C: Danielle Wilson, Baylor C: Courtney Paris, OU

— DAILY STAFF

WITH HAIRCUT • $49.99 WEAVE OR FOIL ADD $10.00

364-2100 • 722 Asp Ave. CAMPUS CORNER

HAIRCUT • $10.99

Daily Lunch Buffet

$4.88 • 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. • Sunday-Friday

Freshman guard Whitney Hand was also named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team and also received All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

The Sooners finished the regular season as the top team in the Big 12, and are the No. 1 seed going into this week’s conference tournament.

The Sooners lost once in conference play this season, against Texas A&M. The Sooners first game in the Big 12 tournament is at 11 a.m. on Friday.

HIGHLIGHTING OR COLOR

CHINESE RESTAURANT

All You Can Eat

G/F Danielle Grant, Texas A&M G: Danielle Robinson, OU G: Yvonne Turner, Nebraska

Non-Requested Stylist Only

Open 7 Days A Week!

The Works $15.99 Shampoo/ Cut/Blowdry

116 S. Main, Noble 127 N. Porter 872-1661 360-4247

Must present this coupon

129 N.W. Ave. 1215 W. Lindsey 360-4422 364-1325

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

7

STAFF COLUMN

Paris’ guarantee makes women’s tournament more interesting ourtney Paris didn’t need some sort of shtick to leave her mark at OU, but now she has it anyway.

As if Paris, one of college basketball’s most dominant players, didn’t make enough headlines by her game, she’s turned some heads with her words recently also.

After OU’s 61-49 victory over Texas Tech Wednesday night, during Senior Night festivities, Paris guaranteed that if the Sooners didn’t win a National Championship in 2009, she would pay back her scholarship to OU. Those are some bold words.

Bold words that are even bolder when you consider the circumstances.

During the Paris era, the Sooners have historically underachieved in the NCAA tournament.

STEVEN There have been talented teams before, and Paris JONES has been dominant since she arrived, but the Sooners have yet to advance past the Sweet 16 during her three years.

The Sooners are currently without freshman guard Whitney Hand, their biggest outside threat, and although she may return early on in the tournament, there’s no telling how long it could take her to return to form after sitting out four weeks.

And then there’s the fact that Connecticut stands squarely in the Sooners’ path to a national title.

Surely you remember the Huskies. They’re the team that beat the Sooners by 28 in November. They’re the team that is undefeated and won every regular season game by double digits. They’re the team that has put together arguably the most dominant regular season in recent history.

They could cause some issues for OU. I understand why Paris would make the claim. This year’s Sooner team is probably the best since she has been at OU. They have a more complete team than in the past, multiple improved players from last season and were one last-second shot away from finishing conference play undefeated.

But still, the odds are stacked against Paris. While she was probably riding high on Senior Night, she may have had second thoughts once she got home. Paying back more than $60,000 on a WNBA salary won’t be easy.

But the guarantee is good for OU women’s college basketball.

While the women’s team has its fair share of fans, it has often been, especially among students, behind the men in popularity.

But now Paris has given those fans who don’t normally tune in a reason to watch the Sooners in the NCAA tournament.

Whether her prediction comes true doesn’t matter — she’s going to make history either way. She will become either the Joe Namath of OU, somehow following through on a crazy guarantee, or she will always be known as the athlete who paid her scholarship back to the university.

Either way, it makes for an interesting March. And I’m definitely pulling for a UConn/OU championship.

C

While she was probably riding high on Senior Night, she may have had second thoughts once she got home.

Paying back over $60,000 on a WNBA salary won’t be easy.

STEVEN JONES IS A LANGUAGE ARTS EDUCATION JUNIOR AND THE DAILY’S SPORTS EDITOR.

8

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

PLACE AN AD Phone 405.325.2521

E-Mail classifieds@ou.edu

Fax

Classifieds

C Transportation AUTO INSURANCE

Auto Insurance Quotations Anytime Foreign Students Welcomed Jim Holmes Insurance, 321-4664

405.325.7517

Office Copeland Hall 149A

Mail The Oklahoma Daily 860 Van Vleet Oval, 149A Norman OK 73019-2052

DEADLINES Line Ad. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 a.m.

Place your classified line ad by 9 a.m., Monday-Friday to run in the next issue.

Display Ad. . . . .3 days prior Classified Display or Classified Card Ad are due 3 days prior to publication date.

PAYMENT s r

r

TM

Services PROFESSIONAL SERVICES We solve DUI problems affordably.

Call O’Quinn & Nelson Law Office, 290-1441

Employment HELP WANTED

$5,000-$45,000 PAID. EGG DONORS for up to 9 donations, + Exps, non-smokers, Ages 19-29, SAT>1100/ACT>24/GPA>3.00 Contact: info@eggdonorcenter.com Make up to $75 per online survey, student opinions needed www.cashtospend.com.

STUDENTPAYOUTS.COM Paid survey takers needed in Norman 100% FREE to join. Click on Surveys.

Now hiring lifeguard, swim instructors, and AM pool managers. Apply at the Cleveland County Family YMCA, 1350 Lexington Ave. EOE.

Payment Payment is required at the time the ad is placed. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express; cash, money orders or local checks accepted.

Bartending! Up to $250/day. No exp nec. Training provided. 1-800-965-6520, x133.

Employment HELP WANTED Here is your chance!

Blu Fine Wine and Food is now accepting applications for waitstaff and experienced cooks.

Must be 21. Apply in person between 2-4 pm M-F, at 201 S Crawford. 360-4258.

THE MONT Now accepting applications for the following positions: SERVERS-must be available for day shifts beginning at 10:30 am, experience preferred HOSTESS must be available nights and weekends. Apply in person M-F, 2pm to 4pm, 1300 Classen

J Housing Rentals APTS. FURNISHED $400, bills paid, efficiency LOFT apartments, downtown over Mister Robert Furniture, 109 E Main, fire sprinkler, no pets, smoke-free. Inquire store office.

APTS. UNFURNISHED www.3MonthsFreeRent.info Brand New Apartments. Limited Availability.

1 BLK FROM OU, very nice 4 room apt, 800 sf, wood floors, 1016 S College, Apt 1, $295/mo.

Call 360-2873 or 306-1970. $99 1st MONTH/$99 DEPOSIT* Immediate Move-Ins Only Prices Reduced / 1&2 beds Available!

Pets Welcome! Large Floor Plans!

Models open 8a-8p Everyday!

Elite Properties 360-6624 or www.elite2900.com

J Housing Rentals

J Housing Rentals

J Housing Rentals

APTS. UNFURNISHED

HOUSES UNFURNISHED

ROOMS FURNISHED

P/L Now for Summer & Fall! $99 Deposit! No Application Fee! Models open 8a-8p Everyday!

7 Locations to Choose from!

Elite Properties 360-6624 or www.elite2900.com

CONDOS UNFURNISHED 1 bedroom Nottingham Condo for rent, newly updated. 417-861-9439 or 408-6864.

Summer Rent Slashed in 1/2!

Leasing 1-4 bdrms, amenities galore, The Edge Call Iris, 303-550-5554

Classified Card Ads Classified Card Ads are $170 per column inch with a minimum of 2 column inchs and run 20 consecutive issues. Ad copy may change every five issues.

Game Sponsorships Classified Display Ads located directly above the following games/puzzles. Limited spaces available – only one space per game.

Edge Condo, 4 bd/ 4 bath, $129,000 - 1st time homebuyers: $8000 tax rebate Call Carol Lindley 401-0246 - Dillard Group

TOWNHOUSES UNFURNISHED Taylor Ridge Townhomes 2 Bdrm, 2.5 Bath, Fully Renovated Townhomes near OU! Pets Welcome! • Call for current rates and Move-in Specials!!!

Taylor Ridge Townhomes (405) 310-6599

oudaily.com

915 W Lindsey, NEAR OU, 1/2 bd, 1 ba, NO PETS, $500 per mo.

1104 Grover Ln, NEAR OU, 2 bd, car garage, CHA, W/D, stove, refrigerator, microwave, compactor, NO PETS, $800 per mo.

Contact: 329-1933 or 550-7069 Clean 3bd/1bth near campus, big yard, fireplace, basement, $800/mo. 447-8313.

TAKE A SMALL STEP TO GET HEALTHY www.smallstep.gov

9 8 6

9

1 7 5 3

9 1 5 4

4 2

1

2

4 1 6

8

Previous Solution

6

3 8 9 2

3

4 9

7 4 5 6 3 8 1 2 9

6 9 2 5 1 4 3 7 8

8 1 3 7 2 9 5 6 4

4 7 6 8 5 3 9 1 2

2 5 1 9 4 7 6 8 3

9 3 8 1 6 2 4 5 7

3 6 7 2 9 1 8 4 5

5 2 9 4 8 6 7 3 1

1 8 4 3 7 5 2 9 6

Monday- Very Easy Tuesday-Easy Wednesday- Easy Thursday- Medium Friday - Hard

Instructions: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

¥r]p6 ]NG]Hã3 3H36J ]H6v H63 º p66H6r P #ã3 ]#º ]¥º

Universal Crossword Edited by Timothy E. Parker March 10, 2009 ACROSS 1 Some soccer game observers 5 Must, informally 10 A shortening, in more ways than one 14 Albany-toBuffalo canal 15 Where the deliriously happy walk 16 Ancient Semitic idol 17 Corporate big shot 20 “All systems go” 21 503, in Roman numerals 22 “David” and others 23 Crusty piece of bread 24 Soap and water creations 26 Women’s volunteer organizations 31 Driver’s 180 32 Gomer of classic TV 33 End of many URLs 36 Lay off, to a batter 37 Determine if it’s gold 39 Opera goddess 40 Pronoun for a ship 41 Capital on a fjord 42 Errand boy 43 Rookie of the Year’s concern 47 Selected, as

Æ]¥ PpN Pº 6r ¡* ãHr] º M H63 º p66H6r Gp6 H6Gº¥pN¥ 0 #º ºHNv M¥ãp6 Mp ]¥ 3¥p3ãH¥N ºM NvH6 Gp6G¥º Á#ºº¥6 ¥N HMp ¥N N] P ]p 9 H6 ± M¥ºHGp6N PHãã 3¥j¥ã NvH6 Gp6G¥º T 0 # Pp6 [¥ ]¥ 6¥F ãHv¥ ¥r]p6x Â63 º p66H6r HN #

2 col (3.792 in) x 2 inches Sudoku ...........$760/month Boggle............$760/month Jumble ...........$760/month Horoscope .....$760/month 1 col (1.833 in) x 2.25 inches Crossword .....$515/month (located just below the puzzle)

POLICY The Oklahoma Daily is responsible for one day’s incorrect advertising. If your ad appears incorrectly, or if you wish to cancel your ad, call 405.325.2521 before the deadline for cancellation in the next issue. Refunds will not be issued for early cancellation.

Errors not the fault of the advertiser will be adjusted.

The Oklahoma Daily will not knowingly accept advertisements that discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religious preference, national origin or sexual orientation. Violations of this policy should be reported to The Oklahoma Daily Business Office.

Help Wanted ads in The Oklahoma Daily are not classified as to gender.

Advertisers understand that they may not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion or gender unless such qualifying factors are essential to a given position.

All ads are subject to acceptance by The Oklahoma Daily. Ad acceptance may be re-evaluated at any time.

CONDOS

FOR RENT

Classified Display Ads Rates are $16.00 per column inch, per day with a minimum of 2 column inches.

Housing Sales

817 Birch - Short walk to campus! 3bd/2ba 2 car garage. Remodeled kitchen & master bath. W/D & lawn service included. $1200 mo. Call Steve Gray 214-455-4508.

Line Ads

1 day ............. $4.25/line 2 days ........... $2.50/line 3-4 days........ $2.00/line 5-9 days........ $1.50/line 10-14 days.... $1.15/line 15-19 days.... $1.00/line 20-29 days.... $ .90/line 30+ days ..... $ .85/line

J

HOUSES UNFURNISHED

FETCH THIS PAPER YOURSELF

Rates are determined by the price per line, per day. There is a two line minimum charge; approximately 40 characters per line, including spaces and punctuation.

NEAR OU, privacy, $260, bills paid includes cable, neat, clean, parking. Prefer male student.

Call 329-0143.

322 S Lahoma, 2/3 bdrms, 1 bth, CH/A, w/d, dw, no pets, $700/mo + security dep. 573-2944.

NEAR OU, nice 2 bd, 1 bth Duplex, new paint/ carpet, CH/A, w/d hkup, $425/mo, $300/dep, no pets. Ref req. 329-5568 or 496-3993, lv msg.

Credit Accounts

RATES

AVAILABLE IN MAY A short walk to OU, 1-5 blks west of OU, nice brick homes, wood floors, CH/A, w/d, disposal, good parking.

3 Bdrm $750-$1500 2 Bdrm $600-$800 1 Bdrm $420-$460 MISTER ROBERT FURNITURE 9-4 pm, Mon-Sat, 321-1818

DUPLEXES UNFURNISHED

small step no. 34

Businesses may be eligible for credit in a limited, local billing area. Please inquire with Business Office at 405.325.2521.

R.T. Conwell, advertising manager classifieds@ou.edu phone: 325-2521, fax: 325-7517 For more, go to oudaily.com.

- º¥p3 ¥r]p6JN NvH6 Gp6G¥º N º0 r PPP pp3 ºrKM¥3HpK Np

True Sooners Don’t Haze.

straws 48 1949 milit. alliance 49 One place to flounder 52 It has a primed and painted body 53 High mountain 56 Congressional rookie 60 British isles 61 Ed with seven Emmys 62 Bindlestiff 63 Civil rights activist Parks 64 The mating game 65 Israeli novelist Oz DOWN 1 Western plateau 2 Cookie since 1912 3 Expensive fur 4 Cinque follower 5 With more bloodshed 6 “Ah, Wilderness!” dramatist 7 “Cash Cab” vehicle 8 Secure, as an apron 9 Apparent moon path 10 Kind of triangle 11 “The best ___ schemes …”

12 Wasp’s nest setting 13 Cheers for a banderillero’s superior 18 “___ a Grecian Urn” 19 Exceed-

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 34 35 37 38 39 41 42

ing what is appropriate Word that rhymes with its opposite Dionne Warwick’s “I ___ Little Prayer” Hardly handsome Sticks out or protrudes 45th state Microwaves, informally England’s ___ Downs Jules Verne milieu Kitchen hot spot Noted critic of capitalism Tennis legend Arthur Tap the brakes Martial arts school O founder Advance in age

44 Port city on an arm of the Black Sea 45 Heavy burdens 46 Many Consumer Reports employees 49 A long way off 50 Small jazz combo 51 Places for making soaps?

52 The Bard’s wife 53 Fermi’s fascination 54 Wolf in the western U.S. 55 Crackerjacks 57 Brit’s raincoat 58 It’s grate stuff 59 Sound of insight

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate www.upuzzles.com

“BENJAMIN BUTTON EFFECT” by Marsha Fowkles

Report Hazing.

325-5000 All calls are anonymous.

The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution.

Previous Answers

Luke Atkinson, L&A editor dailyent@ou.edu phone: 325-5189, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Life & Arts

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

CD Reviews

U2 DISCOGRAPHY

Despite misleading single, U2 rocks f the lead single “Get on Your Boots” is any indicator, then “No Line on the Horizon,” U2’s twelfth studio album, is a recording burdened with NASCAR-ready guitar riffs, jumbled, bizarre lyrics and weirdo trash-can drum breakdowns.

But the good news is it isn’t.

Why the band would unleash such a botched single on the public is anybody’s guess when so many other options were available (the group’s website claimed nearly a year ago that they had “hit a rich songwriting vein” and penned about fifty to sixty songs), but it certainly isn’t reflective of the rest of the album as a whole. Rather, it continues the band’s recent tradition of recording a tremendous album brimming with energy, social discord and introspection and celebrating their success by releasing its most meaningless, upbeat, vapid song as the lead single (see: “Discotheque,” “Beautiful Day” and “Vertigo”).

The title track, another tale of a sentimental party girl, would have been a much better choice, or even “Stand Up Comedy,” with its funky guitar riff and “love” catch-phrases. But rest assured diehard U2 faithful—your favorite Irish beaus have produced something certainly on par with their previous two albums, only a slight step beneath the quality achieved on 1987’s “The Joshua Tree”.

Bono’s ego tends to dominate critical thought, and bubbles in and out thematically on NLOTH, less an obstacle than a general idea. You know he’s important; he knows you know he’s important, and now that that’s settled, he may proceed to rock you.

“My ego’s not really the enemy,” he discusses on “Stand Up

I

Comedy”. “It’s like a small child crossing an eight lane highway on a voyage of discovery.”

He also warns “of small men with big ideas” with more than just a little tongue-in-cheek.

Backing vocals and an organ support Bono on “Moment of Surrender,” while he sermonizes about returning “to the rhythm of my soul” in one of the album’s finest moments. “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” is embarrassingly gorgeous pop, and the boys deliver it with full and unabashed strength.

The intro to “Unknown Caller” reminisces of those tremendous first three songs from “The Joshua Tree,” featuring Edge’s standard wonderful chiming guitars, while Bono does what he does best—oohing and aahing ethereally. The rest of the song fails to disappoint, and shines through as one of the album’s best.

The remaining songs are filler of excellent quality, and if 50 or 60 more such songs exist, I anticipate a supplemental EP. “Breathe” particularly stands out, and “Cedars of Lebanon” fulfills another important U2 tradition by making a giant biblical reference out of the album’s final song (“Christianity Today” are big fans).

All in all, NLOTH will surely be ranked at or near the top of nearly every major music publication this year and will also surely be nominated for a handful of Grammys.

And U2 will deserve it.

MATT CARNEY IS A JOURNALISM SOPHOMORE.

Man Man makes atypical rock record he second annual Norman Music Festival on Main Street April 25 brings to the main stage Philadelphia rock group Man Man. Known for their white uniforms, face-paint and extremely energetic live shows, Man Man looks and sounds like a three-ring circus, only the dangerous kind, where the clowns have sharp teeth and the lighting is a little darker than usual.

They sound like Tom Waits meets Frank Zappa meets Modest Mouse meets circus music. There are so many instruments— including, but not limited to, a xylophone, piano, horn section and an organ, that a full song can give you a hangover. Musically, Man Man is a mixture of jazz, ragtime and rock. Lead singer Ryan Kattner’s vocals are deep, rich, and growling, sometimes shouting incoherently over the music. He once told NPR that he is fully aware he can’t sing.

“I know I don't have the best singing TYLER voice,” he said. “But BRANSON what can I do? You have to make do with what you can.”

That might be what makes Man Man so interesting. They’re heartfelt and emotional, and it doesn’t really matter that Kattner isn’t pitchperfect, because if he were, it would subvert what they stood for in the first place—obscurity, energy and emotion. Pitchfork media describes Man Man as “melancholy hobo rock,” which may as accurately as possible characterize their interesting use of gypsy, fairy tale-sounding musical arrangements, and their dark, creative lyrics—especially after their 2008 release “Rabbit Habit.”

While the group may look and sound like a calamitous joke (with outlandish face paint and beards that rival indie folksters Fleet Foxes), their songwriting is very intense. It’s poignant, dark and surprisingly organized despite the seeming discordance of their music. There is definitely more to Man Man than shouting background noises, silly xylophone rolls and all-white uniforms.

In the song “Big Trouble,” for instance, Kattner writes over a slow New Orleans marching arrangement, “Whatever makes you tick/ Is what makes me crawl/ Through the mud and the blood

T

and the memories/ And the worst of it all.” It sounds like a love song, but something dark lingers in the background, something foreboding, obsessive and altogether gloomy. “Mr. Jung Stuff,” arguably their best song on the album, is characterized by a shouting chorus of “Up she goes, down she goes,” comparing the fickleness of a love interest to a boat at sea, culminating in the lamenting submission “Take me in your boat/ To those fiery shores / I don’t want to love / Anymore.” Conversely, the song “The Ballad of Butter Beans,” perhaps the most entertaining song on the album, proclaims a little more confidently and defiantly, “Butter Beans, I’m gonna get you… I’m going to hell, and you’re riding shotgun.”

The latter half of the album gets darker and a bit more obscure; the song “El Azteca” sounds funky and bass-heavy, like something appropriate for the theme song to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Their piano ballad and title track, “Rabbit Habit,” grieves over a breakup: “And he don’t even taste the food he eats anymore/ And there’s a space in place of where his heart was before,” concluding with a snappish accusation “You’re an elegant little pelican / And all your sorrows are stacked / Amongst your nest of friends.” “Harpoon Fever” sounds like a rejected interlude in an episode of Spongebob, and the closing track “Whalebone” may be the closest homage Kattner will get to Tom Waits.

“Rabbit Habit” is definitely not your typical rock record. But in an age of overwhelming plasticity and ubiquitous musical conformity, it presents itself as a breath of fresh, gypsy air.

Man Man’s live show is rumored to be an energetic spectacle, and their lyrics remain abstract, but not cryptic enough to get lost in murky metaphors.

When they set up their organs and xylophones on Main Street in April, be sure to stop by and observe. If you can’t dig the bizarre style, you can at least appreciate their energetic and relentless dedication to rock music, a genre that’s been in need of some reform for quite awhile.

‘Rabbit Habit’ Man Man

NEED MORE L&A? CHECK OUT OUDAILY.COM

LONGEST Happy Hour in Norman!

4 P.M. - 12 A.M. $1.00 DRAFTS

•Bud •Bud Light

•Coors Light •AmberBock

POOL TOURNEY TONIGHT!

Specials

Cuba Libre - $2.00 sm $3.00 lg Labatt Blue - $2.25

TYLER BRANSON IS AN ENGLISH SENIOR.

9

‘NO LINE ON THE HORIZON’ Track List: 1. No Line On The Horizon 2. Magnificent 3. Moment of Surrender 4. Unknown Caller 5. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight 6. Get On Your Boots 7. Stand Up Comedy 8. Fez - Being Born 9. White As Snow 10. Breathe 11. Cedars Of Lebanon

HOROSCOPE

By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- Regardless of how strongly you feel about something, avoid getting into a confrontation with someone who is diametrically opposed to your stance. Let time settle the matter.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -Brace yourself because a promise you made in the past may be requested at this time, just when you have your own issues to deal with. It will be difficult not to comply.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -Although you’ll be in a gregarious mood and eager to socialize with co-workers or friends, they may be of the mindset to do more important things. Honor their wishes.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- When negotiating a matter of importance, don’t underestimate either your opponent’s strength or your own. Predicting the outcome may be too close to call.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- A failure to acknowledge and praise co-workers for both their input and cooperative spirit could result in a work stoppage. Don’t be so involved that you fail to recognize what they’ve actually done.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Once you agree to partake in a social sport, be careful not to make winning all-important to you or to involve yourself with those who do. In either case, all the fun will be sucked out of the action.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -Unless you’re careful, especially when it comes to gambling, you could become involved in something where the odds clearly favor your opponent and you’ll lose far more than you can afford.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- You had better have some good reasons for ignoring the dictums of those in power. If you fail to comply, you could find yourself in more trouble than you bargained for.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- It’ll be clear to both you and your partner that a joint venture in which you’re engaged is quite promising. However, if each sees things from a different perspective, nothing will come of it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- In your communicative dealings, take care not to get too immersed in side issues, because, as a result, whatever you needed to discuss will never be addressed.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -Because circumstances might turn out to be far more difficult than you expected, you need to be prepared to use your smarts in order to make things turn out well. If you don’t, it’ll be another story.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Unless you take some positive measures to resolve an outstanding obligation, you can expect big trouble in the making.

Once things are set in motion, it’ll be difficult to rewind.

10

Life & Arts

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Seven books for spring break • The Daily wants you to take a trip inside a book for spring break iinsid

“The Princess Bride” William Goldman Goldman’s written tale of “true love and high adventure” leaves the movie in the dust, although admittedly amazing dust. If you’re craving unique characters and hilariosity, this is the book to choose.

For th those lucky enough not to have mountains of homework faciing them over spring break, the mid-semester pause-for-breath will be fantas b fantastically full of free time. The stress will be absent and you’ll have not h nothing to do that requires too much attention.

Even iif you are planning on taking a trip somewhere, you can still ggrab a bo book and read. In the car or at your cabin or cabana, there’s nothing b n better to do with that time than pick up a great book and eenjoy the weather, wherever you are.

Here aare a few novel recommendations for this break. Whatever yyour tast taste or mood, there’s something here for you.

Photos.com

SARAH DORN IS AN ENGLISH JUNIOR.

“The The Co Count ount off Monte onte Cristo” C

“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”

Alexandre exandrre Dumas

Nearly 200 Phish fans arrested in Virginia HAMPTON, Va. — Some Phish fans are leaving Hampton a little lighter than when they arrived for the band's weekend reunion.

Police said Monday they confiscated about $1.2 million in illegal drugs and more than $68,000 in cash from concertgoers. Authorities also arrested 194 Phish fans during the three-night celebration of the band's return to the stage after a nearly five-year absence.

Most of the arrests were for drug possession, use and distribution, police said.

Tourism officials had estimated 75,000 fans would be coming to the coastal Virginia city. Nearly 200 law enforcement officers worked the weekend event, with the band picking up the tab.

Programmer gets time LOS ANGELES — A computer expert who designed wiretapping software used by private investigator Anthony Pellicano has been sentenced in Los Angeles to 27 months in prison.

Forty-four-year-old Kevin Kachikian was allowed to remain free Monday on $100,000 bail pending an appeal.

Kachikian was convicted in May of conspiracy to commit wiretapping and possession or manufacture of a wiretapping device. He was acquitted of nine other charges.

Pellicano is serving a 15-year sentence after he was convicted of dozens of felony racketeering, conspiracy and wiretapping charges stemming from a scheme to illegally wiretap private phone conversations of celebrities, attorneys and others.

Prosecutors say Kachikian wrote the code for the “Telesleuth” program that recorded calls.

–AP

Evelyn Waugh

Junot Diaz

For those off you who haven’t readd this on onee already,y and ho have, this is a for those who fantastic talee of captivity captivity, love love, treachery, near-death, full-death and general wit. Be sure to get the abridged version, unless you want to be 18 volumes deep in awesome.

L&A BRIEFLY

“Brideshead Revisited” This mid-20th century work examines the lives of British university students just a few years after the finish of the War to End All Wars. The prose is eloquent and riveting, and the story will keep you reading if the great prose doesn’t.

Never before had I witnessed footnotes in a novel, and then I picked up “Wao.” Clearly, this is no normal book, but the 2008 Pulitzer winner is worth the weird. Give it a few dozen pages and see if you’re not inescapably curious about the Oscar’s life.

“The Life of Pi”

“Cold Mountain”

“Saving Fish from Drowning”

Yann Martel

Charles Frazier

“Pi” is a beautifully simple tale of one boy’s unintentional sea voyage with nothing but a tiger for company. The most powerful part of the book is the ending; just try not to ponder it for the next week.

Even for someone who typically dislikes war stories, this book became an instant favorite.

Ignore any ideas you have about the book if you’ve seen the film.

Frazier’s starkly realistic tale of Ada and Inman’s lives in the Civil War will have you hooked.

Amy Tan If you don’t find Bibi Chen to be one of the most peculiar narrators in modern literature, check your pulse. This story, told from the perspective of the former art connoisseur turned ghost, relates the journey of a group of strangers to China. The trip was planned by Bibi, before her curious death, and she won’t let the grave stop her from taking the trip.

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

experience convenience with everything you need or want just a few steps away! t GSFF UVUPSJOH t EJOJOH MPDBUJPOT t IVTUPO IVòNBO SFDSFBUJPO DFOUFS t XBMLJOH EJTUBODF UP DMBTT

make your move.

reserve your 2009-2010 space in OU Traditions Square or upperclass residence hall communities!

live the legend. live on campus.

housing.ou.edu

The University of Oklahoma is a division in OU’s ’ department of Student Affairs ff . The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.